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In 1980s, three visionary men paved way for downtown tourism

Tour guide Bob Jenkins stops at the foot of Market Street, which in the summer can be packed with tourists. When he started more than 25 years ago, the spot looked like it does in the inset photo. Jenkins pushed for trees and shrubbery to be added to the first block of Market Street, enhancing the now-shaded entryway to Wilmington's waterfront and making it more pedestrian-friendly for tourists and locals alike.

Published: Sunday, September 15, 2013 at 1:29 a.m.

Last Modified: Sunday, September 15, 2013 at 1:29 a.m.

Carl Marshburn keeps a handwritten note in a scrapbook at Cape Fear Riverboats. Dated March 22, 1988, it reads: “Capt. Carl called from boat. Said, 'Tell Helen to call Jean Rice, tell her to set up everything for April 2, 1988!' ”

Facts

How times have changed

Longtime downtown Wilmington tour guides Bob Jenkins, John Pucci and Carl Marshburn have seen big changes in the local tourism industry since they started

Room occupancy tax collections(in 1987, the tax was only 3 percent, so the 2012 number includes only the first 3 percent)1987: $724,118, or $1,463,496 in 2012 dollars2012: $4,163,935Source: New Hanover County Finance Department

Number of regularly scheduled walking tours downtown1987: 1 (Wilmington Adventure Tours)2012: Around 10, not including annual and seasonal events.Source: Wilmington and Beaches Convention and Visitors Bureau

Take a tourBob Jenkins: Still offers walking tours of historic downtown, but by appointment only. Call Wilmington Adventure Tour Co. at 763-1785.John Pucci: His company, Springbrook Farms, offers horse-drawn carriage rides that start on Market Street between Water and Front streets. For more information, visit www.horsedrawntours.com or call 251-8889.Carl Marshburn: Cape Fear Riverboats offers a variety of cruises. For more information, visit www.cfrboats.com or call 343-1611.

Marshburn had called the office from aboard his brand-new riverboat, the Henrietta II, when it was off Fort Myers, Fla., en route to Wilmington. He wanted his publicist to schedule a riverfront celebration for its arrival.

“I knew when I came into Wilmington with that boat, I can only do it one time,” Marshburn said. He wanted it to be a big deal.

And it was.

“When we came under the bridge, I was shocked at the number of people waiting for that boat,” he recalled.

A dixieland jazz band played. Actors dressed as Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher mingled with the crowd. Elected officials made sure they were seen.

And that's how Marshburn launched his riverboat business 25 years ago.

A year earlier, John Pucci had begun offering horse-drawn carriage rides downtown.

And about two years before that, in late 1984 and early 1985, Bob Jenkins started offering walking tours of downtown.

At a time when tourism in Southeastern North Carolina revolved mostly around the beaches and the battleship, these three men played pivotal roles in turning downtown Wilmington into a destination for visitors.

Today, you'll find tourists taking pictures on the Riverwalk, dining and shopping downtown, and taking their kids to attractions such as the Cape Fear Serpentarium and the Wilmington Railroad Museum, which had 21,003 visitors in 2012.

“There wasn't a lot of tourism in Wilmington,” said Jane Peterson, who joined the Greater Wilmington Chamber of Commerce in 1986 and headed up the Convention and Visitors Bureau when it was spun off later that year. “We had to start from scratch.”

What on earth possessed these three men to think they could run successful tourism businesses in a blighted downtown?

How are they doing today, when Wilmington's lure is well established but the economy poses challenges? And what challenges lie ahead for downtown tourism?

In a sense, the scene was already set by the mid-1980s. Chandler's Wharf and the Cotton Exchange provided retail bookends, luring beachgoers to town with gift shops and restaurants. The Hilton Wilmington Riverside and the Heart of Wilmington hotel offered rooms to visitors.

The Burgwin-Wright House and the Latimer House were open for tours, to be joined by the Bellamy Mansion Museum in 1994.

The N.C. Azalea Festival had been a springtime draw since it was inaugurated in 1948, and the growth of Riverfest, started in 1979, added a tourism boost in the fall.

Although many of the big retailers like JC Penney and Belk had abandoned downtown, bustling shops still sold shoes, dresses, men's suits and other staples.

But tourists didn't come to buy shoes. The antique stores, gourmet shops and quirky boutiques selling gas masks and tie-dyed dresses were still decades away. And there were few restaurants open at night.

Tourists didn't have much to do between Chandler's Wharf and the Cotton Exchange. Rough bars and peep shows often deterred families from downtown.

Beverly Tetterton, a downtown resident since 1981 who worked at the library, remembers her young daughter quizzing her about prostitutes on South Front Street.

Pucci said when he started offering carriage rides from Market Street in 1987, few children were among the passengers. Parents didn't bring them.

“There was a stigma about downtown: rough bars and abandoned buildings. People got robbed,” he said. “We were trying to bring it back to life.”

Those three visionary men – Jenkins, Pucci and Marshburn – paved the way for more walking tours and trolley rides, ice cream shops and gift stores.

“Bob, John and Carl, they kept Wilmington alive when it very much wanted to die,” said John Hirchak, who, with his wife, Kim, operates the Ghost Walk of Old Wilmington, the Haunted Pub Crawl and the Hollywood Location Walk, along with the Black Cat Shoppe at 8 Market St.

The Hirchaks started the Ghost Walk in 1999 and the rest followed.

“I think Wilmington had a bad reputation for a long time,” John Hirchak said. “Bob, Carl and John were able to keep the history part of it alive.”

“Their contribution was to share the history with people and keep it afloat,” he said. “Eventually enough of the population caught up with them to say, 'Wow, we really do have something here and it's worth saving.' ”

Walking through time

Bob Jenkins, 78, was a pioneer, one of the first people to believe in downtown. An interior designer, he bought 12 Market Street in 1977 for $17,000 and became the first person in decades to live above his business.

Then as now, the Battleship North Carolina was one of the state's biggest tourist attractions. It had 241,222 visitors in 1987.

And the Capt. J.N. Maffitt, a tour boat operating since 1978, offered a fun way for battleship visitors to get to Wilmington.

So Jenkins hung a Wilmington Adventure Tours banner at the foot of Market Street where it could be seen from the river.

He gave his walking tours in Bermuda shorts and knee socks. He charged $3 for two-hour tours, chatty explorations of local infrastructure and architecture, sprinkled with gossipy insights into the personalities who shaped Wilmington's past.

He retired from interior design in 1989, devoting himself to educating people.

He worked to build an appreciation for Wilmington's historic downtown, right down to the tiny shells embedded in the mortar of 19th-century brick buildings.

Jenkins pushed for trees and shrubbery to be added to the first block of Market Street, enhancing the now-shaded entryway to Wilmington's waterfront.

He became a force for preservation.

“If you don't know the significance of all this, you can destroy it,” he said.

Horse before the cart

John Pucci and his wife, Janet, fell in love with Wilmington as soon as they came into town under a canopy of oaks.

“Coming down in the car on Market Street, you know how a light bulb goes off in your head?” he said. “We hoped they didn't have a carriage company.”

The Puccis had taken a carriage ride on their wedding day in 1983. Then John helped a friend provide carriage rides for a history-themed ball at a Pittsburgh country club. He loved the business.

He began buying horses from Amish farms, work animals whose gait was too fast or too slow to be matched with other horses pulling farm carts. He offered weekend carriage rides in northeast Ohio for three years.

But he wanted to come South, where he could work year-round.

“Sleigh rides are pretty if you're not the one doing the work,” he said.

They looked at several cities before visiting Wilmington.

Downtown's historic stores and mansions provided the perfect backdrop for a carriage ride.

Pucci was greeted warmly by Don Betz (mayor from 1987 to 1997), Bob Murphrey of the Downtown Area Revitalization Effort (now Wilmington Downtown Inc.) and Peterson, head of the newly created Convention and Visitors Bureau, which used room occupancy tax money to promote the area.

“You're one of the elements we've been trying to get,” someone said.

He launched the business on June 19, 1987.

The carriage rides meander through downtown and the historic residential streets.

“For half an hour, we put them back in the 1800s,” Pucci said.

There were lean years at first. Bankers were “gracious,” and Janet rented a hot-dog stand to help make ends meet.

“In the beginning, you had to believe in the area because there wasn't (much) here,” he said.

But Wilmington's charm and authenticity were undeniable.

“This is still a living historic city,” he said. “The buildings, the families, they're all still here.”

A riverboat gamble

A year later, Carl Marshburn, now 70, launched his riverboat business.

The Henrietta II was named after a boat built in 1818. That Henrietta ran cargo and passengers from Wilmington to Fayetteville.

“It was a risky business, not really successful,” he said. “It was a marginal business. And it still is.”

The Henrietta II was built in 1987, but Marshburn delayed its arrival until he could make his splashy entrance as the 1988 tourist season began.

He needed to be canny because he was underfunded. He lacked the capital to stay in business if things got off to a slow start.

The nation was in a recession, and Marshburn was paying 12 percent interest on his loan.

“Every banker said, 'You're doomed to failure. You won't last six months,' ” he said.

That June, he caught an unlikely break: A barge ran into the Henrietta II. Damage was estimated at $50,000. He told his lawyer to settle for that amount, not to fight for more.

“I got $50,000 when I most needed it,” he said. “I knew I could fix it for less.”

Marshburn assured Robert Parker of the Capt. Maffitt water taxi that he would go after different customers.

“I did real well drawing people,” Marshburn said. “The merchants around us were happy.”

In November 1991, Cape Fear Riverboats bought the Maffitt.

In 1999, Marshburn's company bought the larger Henrietta III and put it into service in 2000, selling the other boat. He told the StarNews earlier this year that the Henrietta III has been for sale for two years, and that he would replace it with another boat if it sells.

Marshburn said it's still a challenge running a riverboat company.

“We carried more people on sightseeing tours on the Henrietta II than we do now,” he said.

Promoting downtown

Early on, Marshburn became involved with tourism promotion, working with the newly created Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Savannah's tourism numbers in the 1980s were similar to Wilmington's, Marshburn said, but Savannah outspent Wilmington 2-to-1 on advertising.

Marshburn said Peterson was crucial as downtown's chief booster.

“Jane understood tourism, and she understood marketing,” he said.

“Jane tried to pull all the parties together to focus on tourism the same way,” said Thalian Hall Executive Director Tony Rivenbark. “Tourism prior to that point was focused on the beaches.”

Peterson, in turn, praised the historian in shorts, the riverboat captain and the carriage driver for their vision.

“Bob, Carl, John, they wanted to immediately grasp the ideal of what tourism was and how they could make it work,” she said. “They were not selfish. Bob promoted the riverboat, and they all promoted each other.”

The CVB began producing an annual visitors guide for tourism, said Kim Hufham, president and CEO of the Wilmington and Beaches Convention & Visitors Bureau who came to work for Peterson in 1989.

“We began doing more aggressive advertising, even though our budget was real small,” Hufham said. “Then as our budget grew, so did our efforts.”

Downtown was coming into its own as a tourist destination.

I-40, movies, hotels

When Interstate 40 was completed in 1990, Jenkins began to notice more weekend visitors.

Rivenbark said the growing film industry played a role, too.

“A lot of people connected with the movie industry gravitated to downtown,” he said.

Actors and crew members book rooms, shop locally and enjoy restaurants, said Connie Nelson, communications director for the CVB. Some visit area attractions.

“And, yes, when word gets out that Wilmington and the beaches were the settings for popular films/TV shows with a loyal fan base, we see an impact from fans who visit to see locations and to walk in the footsteps of the stars,” she wrote in an email.

UNCW also brings tourists, Marshburn said. They come to drop off their kids, and return because they like the area.

Jenkins likes how downtown is evolving. He's pleased with how the historic Dixie Grill has updated its menu. He admires the look of new buildings such as the Wilmington Convention Center, Cape Fear Community College's Union Station building and the W. Allen Cobb Judicial Annex.

Downtown may be poised for another period of growth.

“There are a lot of things that are beginning to come into place now that we've been waiting 25 years for,” Marshburn said.

A Courtyard by Marriott is going up at Second and Grace streets, a Hotel Indigo is expected to go near the convention center, and rumors abound of a Holiday Inn being built somewhere downtown, said John Hinnant, former president and CEO of Wilmington Downtown Inc. The city hopes an Embassy Suites hotel will be built adjacent to the convention center.

“Once this new hotel is opened and people see how successful it can be downtown,” Marshburn said of the Marriott, “I think you're going to see a floodgate in the way of improvements downtown, and it's going to help us all.

“If the economy stays healthy, I think our tourism will certainly rival Charleston,” Marshburn said, looking ahead to coming decades. “We'll be a larger tourist area than Charleston is now.

Take a tour

John Pucci: His company, Springbrook Farms, offers horse-drawn carriage rides that start on Market Street between Water and Front streets. For more information, visit www.horsedrawntours.com or call 251-8889.

<p>Carl Marshburn keeps a handwritten note in a scrapbook at Cape Fear Riverboats. Dated March 22, 1988, it reads: “Capt. Carl called from boat. Said, 'Tell Helen to call Jean Rice, tell her to set up everything for April 2, 1988!' ”</p><p>Marshburn had called the office from aboard his brand-new riverboat, the Henrietta II, when it was off Fort Myers, Fla., en route to Wilmington. He wanted his publicist to schedule a riverfront celebration for its arrival.</p><p>“I knew when I came into Wilmington with that boat, I can only do it one time,” Marshburn said. He wanted it to be a big deal.</p><p>And it was.</p><p>“When we came under the bridge, I was shocked at the number of people waiting for that boat,” he recalled.</p><p>A dixieland jazz band played. Actors dressed as Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher mingled with the crowd. Elected officials made sure they were seen.</p><p>And that's how Marshburn launched his riverboat business 25 years ago.</p><p>A year earlier, John Pucci had begun offering horse-drawn carriage rides downtown.</p><p>And about two years before that, in late 1984 and early 1985, Bob Jenkins started offering walking tours of downtown.</p><p>At a time when tourism in Southeastern North Carolina revolved mostly around the beaches and the battleship, these three men played pivotal roles in turning downtown Wilmington into a destination for visitors.</p><p>Today, you'll find tourists taking pictures on the Riverwalk, dining and shopping downtown, and taking their kids to attractions such as the Cape Fear <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/topic65"><b>Serpentarium</b></a> and the Wilmington Railroad Museum, which had 21,003 visitors in 2012.</p><p>But back in 1985, sailors' bars and adult bookstores dotted lower Market Street. Vagrants loitered in shuttered storefronts.</p><p>“There wasn't a lot of tourism in Wilmington,” said Jane Peterson, who joined the Greater Wilmington Chamber of Commerce in 1986 and headed up the Convention and Visitors Bureau when it was spun off later that year. “We had to start from scratch.”</p><p>What on earth possessed these three men to think they could run successful tourism businesses in a blighted downtown?</p><p>How are they doing today, when Wilmington's lure is well established but the economy poses challenges? And what challenges lie ahead for downtown tourism?</p><p>In a sense, the scene was already set by the mid-1980s. Chandler's Wharf and the <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/topic9957"><b>Cotton Exchange</b></a> provided retail bookends, luring beachgoers to town with gift shops and restaurants. The Hilton Wilmington Riverside and the Heart of Wilmington hotel offered rooms to visitors.</p><p>The Burgwin-Wright House and the Latimer House were open for tours, to be joined by the Bellamy Mansion Museum in 1994.</p><p><a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/topic9941"><b>Thalian Hall</b></a> drew people downtown in the evenings.</p><p>The N.C. <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/entertainment10"><b>Azalea Festival</b></a> had been a springtime draw since it was inaugurated in 1948, and the growth of <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/topic19"><b>Riverfest</b></a>, started in 1979, added a tourism boost in the fall.</p><p>Although many of the big retailers like JC Penney and Belk had abandoned downtown, bustling shops still sold shoes, dresses, men's suits and other staples.</p><p>But tourists didn't come to buy shoes. The antique stores, gourmet shops and quirky boutiques selling gas masks and tie-dyed dresses were still decades away. And there were few restaurants open at night.</p><p>Tourists didn't have much to do between Chandler's Wharf and the Cotton Exchange. Rough bars and peep shows often deterred families from downtown.</p><p>Beverly Tetterton, a downtown resident since 1981 who worked at the library, remembers her young daughter quizzing her about prostitutes on South Front Street.</p><p>Pucci said when he started offering carriage rides from Market Street in 1987, few children were among the passengers. Parents didn't bring them.</p><p>“There was a stigma about downtown: rough bars and abandoned buildings. People got robbed,” he said. “We were trying to bring it back to life.”</p><p>Those three visionary men – Jenkins, Pucci and Marshburn – paved the way for more walking tours and trolley rides, ice cream shops and gift stores.</p><p>“Bob, John and Carl, they kept Wilmington alive when it very much wanted to die,” said John Hirchak, who, with his wife, Kim, operates the Ghost Walk of Old Wilmington, the Haunted Pub Crawl and the Hollywood Location Walk, along with the Black Cat Shoppe at 8 Market St.</p><p>The Hirchaks started the Ghost Walk in 1999 and the rest followed.</p><p>“I think Wilmington had a bad reputation for a long time,” John Hirchak said. “Bob, Carl and John were able to keep the history part of it alive.”</p><p>“Their contribution was to share the history with people and keep it afloat,” he said. “Eventually enough of the population caught up with them to say, 'Wow, we really do have something here and it's worth saving.' ”</p><h3>Walking through time</h3>
<p>Bob Jenkins, 78, was a pioneer, one of the first people to believe in downtown. An interior designer, he bought 12 Market Street in 1977 for $17,000 and became the first person in decades to live above his business.</p><p>His friends the Illicks moved in next-door and opened a print shop.</p><p>“One by one, quality little businesses started coming back,” Jenkins said.</p><p>Shoppers were curious about downtown.</p><p>“People kept coming up and asking questions,” he said.</p><p>He saw an opportunity.</p><p>Then as now, the <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/topic33"><b>Battleship North Carolina</b></a> was one of the state's biggest tourist attractions. It had 241,222 visitors in 1987.</p><p>And the Capt. J.N. Maffitt, a tour boat operating since 1978, offered a fun way for battleship visitors to get to Wilmington.</p><p>So Jenkins hung a Wilmington Adventure Tours banner at the foot of Market Street where it could be seen from the river.</p><p>He gave his walking tours in Bermuda shorts and knee socks. He charged $3 for two-hour tours, chatty explorations of local infrastructure and architecture, sprinkled with gossipy insights into the personalities who shaped Wilmington's past.</p><p>He retired from interior design in 1989, devoting himself to educating people.</p><p>He worked to build an appreciation for Wilmington's historic downtown, right down to the tiny shells embedded in the mortar of 19th-century brick buildings.</p><p>Jenkins pushed for trees and shrubbery to be added to the first block of Market Street, enhancing the now-shaded entryway to Wilmington's waterfront.</p><p>He became a force for preservation.</p><p>“If you don't know the significance of all this, you can destroy it,” he said.</p><h3>Horse before the cart</h3>
<p>John Pucci and his wife, Janet, fell in love with Wilmington as soon as they came into town under a canopy of oaks.</p><p>“Coming down in the car on Market Street, you know how a light bulb goes off in your head?” he said. “We hoped they didn't have a carriage company.”</p><p>The Puccis had taken a carriage ride on their wedding day in 1983. Then John helped a friend provide carriage rides for a history-themed ball at a Pittsburgh country club. He loved the business.</p><p>He began buying horses from Amish farms, work animals whose gait was too fast or too slow to be matched with other horses pulling farm carts. He offered weekend carriage rides in northeast Ohio for three years.</p><p>But he wanted to come South, where he could work year-round.</p><p>“Sleigh rides are pretty if you're not the one doing the work,” he said.</p><p>They looked at several cities before visiting Wilmington.</p><p>Downtown's historic stores and mansions provided the perfect backdrop for a carriage ride.</p><p>Pucci was greeted warmly by Don Betz (mayor from 1987 to 1997), Bob Murphrey of the Downtown Area Revitalization Effort (now <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/topic9936"><b>Wilmington Downtown Inc.</b></a>) and Peterson, head of the newly created Convention and Visitors Bureau, which used room occupancy tax money to promote the area.</p><p>“You're one of the elements we've been trying to get,” someone said.</p><p>He launched the business on June 19, 1987.</p><p>The carriage rides meander through downtown and the historic residential streets.</p><p>“For half an hour, we put them back in the 1800s,” Pucci said.</p><p>There were lean years at first. Bankers were “gracious,” and Janet rented a hot-dog stand to help make ends meet.</p><p>“In the beginning, you had to believe in the area because there wasn't (much) here,” he said.</p><p>But Wilmington's charm and authenticity were undeniable.</p><p>“This is still a living historic city,” he said. “The buildings, the families, they're all still here.”</p><h3>A riverboat gamble</h3>
<p>A year later, Carl Marshburn, now 70, launched his riverboat business.</p><p>The Henrietta II was named after a boat built in 1818. That Henrietta ran cargo and passengers from Wilmington to Fayetteville.</p><p>“It was a risky business, not really successful,” he said. “It was a marginal business. And it still is.”</p><p>The Henrietta II was built in 1987, but Marshburn delayed its arrival until he could make his splashy entrance as the 1988 tourist season began.</p><p>He needed to be canny because he was underfunded. He lacked the capital to stay in business if things got off to a slow start.</p><p>The nation was in a recession, and Marshburn was paying 12 percent interest on his loan.</p><p>“Every banker said, 'You're doomed to failure. You won't last six months,' ” he said.</p><p>That June, he caught an unlikely break: A barge ran into the Henrietta II. Damage was estimated at $50,000. He told his lawyer to settle for that amount, not to fight for more.</p><p>“I got $50,000 when I most needed it,” he said. “I knew I could fix it for less.”</p><p>Marshburn assured Robert Parker of the Capt. Maffitt water taxi that he would go after different customers.</p><p>“I did real well drawing people,” Marshburn said. “The merchants around us were happy.”</p><p>In November 1991, Cape Fear Riverboats bought the Maffitt.</p><p>In 1999, Marshburn's company bought the larger Henrietta III and put it into service in 2000, selling the other boat. He told the StarNews earlier this year that the Henrietta III has been for sale for two years, and that he would replace it with another boat if it sells.</p><p>Marshburn said it's still a challenge running a riverboat company.</p><p>“We carried more people on sightseeing tours on the Henrietta II than we do now,” he said.</p><h3>Promoting downtown</h3>
<p>Early on, Marshburn became involved with tourism promotion, working with the newly created Convention and Visitors Bureau.</p><p>Savannah's tourism numbers in the 1980s were similar to Wilmington's, Marshburn said, but Savannah outspent Wilmington 2-to-1 on advertising.</p><p>Marshburn said Peterson was crucial as downtown's chief booster.</p><p>“Jane understood tourism, and she understood marketing,” he said.</p><p>“Jane tried to pull all the parties together to focus on tourism the same way,” said <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/topic9941"><b>Thalian Hall</b></a> Executive Director Tony Rivenbark. “Tourism prior to that point was focused on the beaches.”</p><p>Peterson, in turn, praised the historian in shorts, the riverboat captain and the carriage driver for their vision.</p><p>“Bob, Carl, John, they wanted to immediately grasp the ideal of what tourism was and how they could make it work,” she said. “They were not selfish. Bob promoted the riverboat, and they all promoted each other.”</p><p>The CVB began producing an annual visitors guide for tourism, said Kim Hufham, president and CEO of the Wilmington and Beaches Convention & Visitors Bureau who came to work for Peterson in 1989.</p><p>“We began doing more aggressive advertising, even though our budget was real small,” Hufham said. “Then as our budget grew, so did our efforts.”</p><p>Downtown was coming into its own as a tourist destination.</p><h3>I-40, movies, hotels</h3>
<p>When Interstate 40 was completed in 1990, Jenkins began to notice more weekend visitors.</p><p>Rivenbark said the growing film industry played a role, too.</p><p>“A lot of people connected with the movie industry gravitated to downtown,” he said.</p><p>Actors and crew members book rooms, shop locally and enjoy restaurants, said Connie Nelson, communications director for the CVB. Some visit area attractions.</p><p>“And, yes, when word gets out that Wilmington and the beaches were the settings for popular films/TV shows with a loyal fan base, we see an impact from fans who visit to see locations and to walk in the footsteps of the stars,” she wrote in an email.</p><p><a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/topic71"><b>UNCW</b></a> also brings tourists, Marshburn said. They come to drop off their kids, and return because they like the area.</p><p>Jenkins likes how downtown is evolving. He's pleased with how the historic Dixie Grill has updated its menu. He admires the look of new buildings such as the <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/topic20"><b>Wilmington Convention Center</b></a>, <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/topic9937"><b>Cape Fear Community College</b></a>'s Union Station building and the W. Allen Cobb Judicial Annex.</p><p>Downtown may be poised for another period of growth.</p><p>“There are a lot of things that are beginning to come into place now that we've been waiting 25 years for,” Marshburn said.</p><p>A Courtyard by Marriott is going up at Second and Grace streets, a Hotel Indigo is expected to go near the convention center, and rumors abound of a Holiday Inn being built somewhere downtown, said <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/topic9938"><b>John Hinnant</b></a>, former president and CEO of <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/topic9936"><b>Wilmington Downtown Inc.</b></a> The city hopes an Embassy Suites hotel will be built adjacent to the convention center.</p><p>“Once this new hotel is opened and people see how successful it can be downtown,” Marshburn said of the Marriott, “I think you're going to see a floodgate in the way of improvements downtown, and it's going to help us all.</p><p>“If the economy stays healthy, I think our tourism will certainly rival Charleston,” Marshburn said, looking ahead to coming decades. “We'll be a larger tourist area than Charleston is now.</p><p>“Wilmington has more to offer tourists than Charleston,” he said.</p><p><i></p><p><a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/topic22"><b>Si Cantwell</b></a>: 343-2364</p><p>On <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/news41"><b>Twitter</b></a>: @SiCantwell</i></p><h3>How times have changed</h3>
<p>Longtime downtown Wilmington tour guides Bob Jenkins, John Pucci and Carl Marshburn have seen big changes in the local tourism industry since they started </p><p><b>Room occupancy tax collections</b></p><p>(in 1987, the tax was only 3 percent, so the 2012 number includes only the first 3 percent)</p><p><b>1987:</b> $724,118, or $1,463,496 in 2012 dollars</p><p><b>2012:</b> $4,163,935</p><p>Source: New Hanover County Finance Department</p><p><b>Tourism economic impact</b></p><p><b>1991 economic impact (oldest available) from domestic travel:</b></p><p>$172.04 million, or $290.01 in 2012 dollars</p><p><b>2012 economic impact from domestic travel:</b> $460.05 million</p><p>Source: N.C. Division of Tourism</p><p><b>Number of regularly scheduled walking tours downtown</b></p><p><b>1987:</b> 1 (Wilmington Adventure Tours)</p><p><b>2012:</b> Around 10, not including annual and seasonal events.</p><p>Source: Wilmington and Beaches Convention and Visitors Bureau</p><h3>Take a tour</h3>
<p><b>Bob Jenkins:</b> Still offers walking tours of historic downtown, but by appointment only. Call Wilmington Adventure Tour Co. at 763-1785.</p><p><b>John Pucci:</b> His company, Springbrook Farms, offers horse-drawn carriage rides that start on Market Street between Water and Front streets. For more information, visit www.horsedrawntours.com or call 251-8889.</p><p><b>Carl Marshburn:</b> Cape Fear Riverboats offers a variety of cruises. For more information, visit www.cfrboats.com or call 343-1611.</p>